I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit disappointed at this early stage, after 4 full listens. This is an enjoyable album, but not the step forward I wanted for Isaiah, and it has some glaring flaws.
The first 10 tracks, from the intro to Stuck In The Mud are great. All the tracks are good, they run into each other smoothly without blending in too much, they show a variety of themes and flows and they create a consistent atmosphere. These 10 tracks could have been a full album.
Unfortunately, after Stuck In the Mud, the album completely loses all focus and direction and turns completely chaotic and unstructured. Not to say all these individual tracks are bad, but they just feel so randomly thrown together, and it kind of kills the atmosphere and mood that was created. Personally, I would have taken Dressed Like Rappers and added it to the first part of the album, and made Stuck In the Mud the final track.
The production overall is good, nice chill beats that are able to create a variety of moods. I like that he's exploring more directly jazzy sounds. There are a couple beats I didn't like, A Lot especially, which is an example of the album's loss of direction. Nothing wrong with Isaiah switching up his style, but this was such a boring beat that just doesn't fit him.
Isaiah is an entertaining rapper. He changes his flow up a lot, and he's able to blend into the beat while still standing out and being interesting. He's not a crazy lyricist or anything, but he's good at creating emotion. Most of all, he's got that charisma where you want to hear what he's saying. The features are great for the most part, all the singers enhance the songs they're on and Kendrick and Jay Rock obviously kill their verses. I will say that Hugh Augustine on Tity & Dola had the worst verse on the album, and I don't think he should have been included.
This album has a lot of great tracks that I see staying with me. Right now, my favourites are 4r da Sqaw, Silkk The Shocker, Rope / Rosegold, Dressed Like Rappers, Wat's Wrong, Bday and Find A Topic.
My least favourite tracks are A Lot and Don't Matter. A Lot is so out of place, it doesn't fit this album and it doesn't fit Isaiah. The beat is forgettable, and for some reason Rashad's vocals are terribly mixed and they're all stuck in the background.
Overall, I definitely think this is a good album, but it's not the big breakout project I think he's capable of. The album's main flaw is a lack of structure and cohesion, similar to Blank Face's main flow. One of the reasons Kendrick has gained so much success is his ability to put albums together, so it's surprising that those around him aren't following that lead. I don't think this surpasses Cilvia Demo. The highs are similar, this album probably has more highs, but it just drags on too long and loses focus, something Cilvia didn't do to this extent. I still enjoy the album and I'll be playing it more, but it's not what I expected quality wise, and it's not what Rashad is capable of quality wise. I think it's around a 7/10